Students are being warned of the dangers of "legal highs" in a hard-hitting campaign ahead of the start of the new university term. The government-backed campaign, the first of its kind, comes amid rising concern that the drugs, which are sold legally but have many of the properties of illegal substances, can have potentially serious side-effects.
The campaign, to be launched tomorrow by the home secretary, Alan Johnson, will be primarily aimed at the student clubbing community, highlighting the potential danger of the substances, particularly when mixed with alcohol. Of the legal high known as GBL, the campaign warns: "It's prepared in a lab and gives you an artificial high – but a teaspoon can be all it takes to throw you into a real-life coma. Don't mix it with alcohol if you want to live."
The campaign, by the government's drugs awareness agency, Frank, will be carried on posters, leaflets and postcards in clubs, bars and record shops and also promoted online and at events organised by the National Union of Students and the music magazine Mixmag.
"There is sometimes a misconception that because a substance is legal it is safe to consume. That is not the case; they are dangerous chemicals," Johnson said. "Through this campaign we want to educate young people who might be tempted to experiment with 'legal highs' that they don't know what they are taking and these substances can have devastating effects, particularly when mixed with alcohol."
The government is in the process of banning three legal highs – GBL, an alternative to the class C drug GHB; the cannabis substitute spice; and the amphetamine alternative BZP. The drugs are sold in "head shops" specialising in drug culture paraphernalia and online. Chemically some are similar in composition to the illegal drugs they replicate.
Concerns about GBL emerged this year when Hester Stewart, a 21-year-old medical student, died after taking the drug. At the inquest into her death, the coroner said: "When drugs such as GBL are used recreationally, the person using them needs to understand they are playing Russian roulette. It may be possible, for no apparent reason, that taking such drugs results in death."
